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Today, our goal is to present and explain to you the new equipment item revamp which will concern directly the level 65 + and a few level 65 - equipment items. With the help of Zeorus, discover a preview of the changes coming your way with the next update on October 8th.In this dev blog, I will try to answer the question that has been in everyone's mind: Why having a revamp of all the items of the game after so long? This devblog will aim to explain the reasons, the ins and outs of this revamp, as well as our wishes for the WAKFU items and of course what it will change for you.

First Part of the Question: Why?

Over time, we make choices, additions, deletions, which are made a little at all levels, including of course the equipment items. With each update comes new equipment items arriving in order to complete the ladder of levels already present or simply to add equipment items for the newly increased level cap.

And as everything is changing, the design of the players' equipment items and their characteristics changes the same way with ach updates. Layer upon layer, new rules in terms of equipment design are implemented (introduction of the relics, set bonuses removal, importance of multi element gameplay, AP Cloaks/MP Breastplates, etc.) but the old rules for the previous equipment items have stayed the same. This results in some inconsistencies in the equipment items which are currently present in the game, which has gotten gradually worse.

Today, we found that these differences were too great and damaged the quality of content and experience of the game, which is why we decided to make a big review/revamp of the equipment items of the game in order to balance these new rules on all the items. To demonstrate this little explanation, I will take for example the biggest inconsistencies that you might all have already met, in a conscious way or not, to show you and present our choices for this revamp coming with the next update.

A Few Thoughts Regarding the Items Design

So that we can all use the same terms, let me introduce you in a few lines how an equipment item is designed on our side. An equipment item, for us is the product of three characteristics:

​Its type (Cloak, Boots, Ring, Two-Handed Weapon, etc.)

Its rarity (Rare, Mythic, Legendary, Relic, etc.)

Its level

The product of these three characteristics will generate on our side a certain "weight" for these equipment items, in other words a number of points that we will have to assign to the equipment item. Example: a level 100 mythical cloak has a total of 42,000 equipment pts while an amulet of the same level and rarity has 24,000pts.

These characteristics will also influence the "caps" of the equipment item stats in questionExample: On a level 100 mythical cape, we can add at max 25% damage if it has an AP and 37% if it doesn't, while a legendary cape of the same level may rise to 29 with AP and 44 without AP.

Therefore each equipment item has its own weight and its own cap for each characteristic and each characteristic has its own cost in order to balance the weight of each bonus between them. Creating an equipment item for us comes down to use the three characteristics mentioned above and, once the weight the equipment item is obtained, to complete them with the desired bonus until the total weight of the equipment item is met.

There are of course other rules, but this is just the base. After this little technical interlude, let's get back to our presentation.

Too Advantageous Equipment Set Bonuses

The first part of this revamp will affect greatly the equipment set bonuses. Currently, there are several inconsistencies that gives the equipment sets an unfair advantage:

An AP/MP bonus completely "free of cost". Let's use our little technical example above, where each equipment item has a weight and each characteristics given to the equipment item is "paid". Well, the current AP/MP set bonuses are totally out of this calculation. They are offered free of cost, which implies that having an equipment set is now much more interesting at a given level than any other combination of equipment items "not part of a set".

Obsolete characteristics caps: even if, for example when the equipment items' damage values are capped, the set bonus may also include the addition of damage bonus. As a result, even with the best equipment items as possible, the bonus of the equipment set will still be too great to be able to compete with these equipment items alone. As a concrete example, the Moowolf Set, which has a an unmatched Critical hit rate, the Kraken Set that completely explode the critical hit damage bonus or the Black Crow Set with its air damage bonus, making all of them indispensable for dozens and dozens of levels.

These two major problems, more than being beneficial for you, also brings real constraints.

The fact that having an equipment set is essential for a given level is not an advantage, but actually a real problem since it will limit all the character builds possibilities, upgrade of equipment items etc.. And it will take a player many additional levels to finally find an equipment item that will replace his equipment set. In fact, some equipment items seem ridiculous when they can have 10, 15 or even higher levels while also having even more important rarities.

Therefore also follows an extreme difficulty of "breaking" an equipment set. Even an AP Cloak (which "pays for its AP" in its characteristics) is less advantageous than having a full AP set since it is "free of cost" in the weight of the equipment item.

On the gameplay side, it suddenly gives a lack of options to create a build, a lack of flavor and lack of interest in new equipment items.

A striking example coming from the release of Wabbit Island, where level 20/30 equipment items were considered laughable compared to some existing equipment items, something that will greatly change with this revamp. There will be no incentive to keep a lower level equipment item if the same characteristics are present.

Some of you might have been able to realize that to equip yourself with the Wabbit items was barely even less advantageous than to keep certain equipment sets that were around level 80-110 (even if they had runes on them), which is a totally inconsistent thing.

This revamp will then correct these problems in two ways:

The AP/MP bonus of each equipment sets will be rebalanced proportionally for each of the items of the set.

The overall cap of the equipment items will now be fully respected. In other words, if an equipment set provides a +10% damage bonus, this 10% will be taken from the caps of each equipment items of the set. Therefore an equipment set will be able to have its equivalent in the equipment items "not part of a set".

Specifically, the player will be able to gain freedom and a lot more possibilities and options for building his character. You will no longer be forced to use an equipment set and keep it for 25 levels, but you will be able to easily and gradually replace parts of your equipment set as you progress and receive each equipment items.

Bonus Standardization and Bonus Exceptions Removal

Another recurring problem regarding the equipment items bonuses was the presence of exceptions that caused some equipment items to be unavoidable to use, even with a character 40 or 50 levels higher than the equipment item itself!

Concrete example: The Bloodthirsty, certainly legendary, level 105 dagger, which with its unique bonus of +3 critical hits, has been a "must have" for the level 104 character builds, while in theory the CH bonus on daggers was "forbidden" on the equipment item creation side. Therefore we had to correct these problems and exceptions in order to move towards more freedom and consistency for all the players. In addition to this example, the CH bonus was unlocked on daggers for up to +2 CH maximum and two-handed weapons have a cap of +6 instead of +4 now. Therefore other daggers with a +1 or +2 CH bonus have emerged, as well as +5 or +6 CH two-handed weapons. In fact, a character can have +6 CH with his weapons, in other words: +4 with a one-handed weapon and +2 with a dagger or +6 with a two-handed weapon.

All equipment items caps will also be rebalanced. Therefore certain equipment items that were exceeding their cap in a characteristic, which made them useful for levels above their own, will finally find their place in the overall balance of the game for a more real consistency in the progression of equipment items. Another example would be the Hushed Set which has +2 AP bonus: impossible to split the equipment set without changing everything at once.

Note: Damage will remain -20 HP, and not -36.

Rebalancing of the Multi Element Bonuses

The old rules of equipment items design involved a mono elemental bonus which was higher than a dual element bonus equipment item that was already above one with a bonus to all elements.

Because of this the mono element equipment items have still currently higher values​​. The problem with this was that the dual element equipment items or equipment items with a bonus to all the elements, have a very low or no value, which is something we wanted to change for the release of Wabbit Island and the level 200 spells.

For Wabbit Island, we based the bonuses on the old values ​​of the dual element. Basically, the caps for the mono, dual or multi elements were the same, but have different weights. In other words, a multi element equipment item could reach the same damage bonus value than a mono element, but the other characteristics were actually impacted. For this revamp, this reasoning remains the same, but we balanced the mono element bonus.

Here is an example to be more specific: for the revamp, a level 100 mythical cloak may have 25% bonus to Fire damage, or 25% to Fire AND Air or 25% damage bonus to all elements for a different cost. A character can therefore reach the same bonus damage for two elements, but lose as a result on other characteristics but at a lesser extent.

More specifically, the result is an increase in the damage bonus for all dual or multi elements equipment items relying on the current single element values in order to make the dual element a viable component but not preventing a mono elements character to equip this equipment item as well. Here is an example to compare:

HP Weight Reduction

Here is a small change that will also make a noticeable difference on a complete equipment set: with this revamp, the weight of HP of the equipment items will be reduced by 20%. So on average, the equipment items will gain between 10 and 30 HP (especially for the equipments of the Wabbit Island update).

Other Changes

Merging of Leadership and Mechanics gain (as well as Summons bonus damage and Mechanical bonus damage) to one characteristic: Control and Damage gain of the CCMD (Controlled Creatures and Mechanical Devices)

Willpower removal

Perception removal

Preparations for the Update

This revamp will greatly impact all level 65 + and some level 65 - equipment items. There will be equipment items with increased values, while others might be decreased due to be currently outdated, while some others might just be slightly modified. However, we will not share the list of changes made to each equipment items for the two following reasons:

First reason: because there will be almost 1200 of modified equipment items, therefore we are unable to list them all one by one.

Second reason: it is to avoid the "first to get the equipment item, first served" type of reaction upon publication of a list. The first players to get the equipment items with the best characteristics, would be able to buy them cheap currently, compared to what they will be after the update.

With this in mind during the update, the Marketplace will be reset and each sale timer will be deemed to have reached its time limit. Thus, the Marketplace will be empty and you will have to collect all the items you had for sale, to put them back for sale at your new chosen price. Note however that Haven Bag Display Cases will not be reset: it will fall upon you to be vigilant and remove your items before maintenance. Remember to look at the new characteristics of the items in order to restart the economy based on this new revamp of the equipment items.

"Merging of Leadership and Mechanics gain (as well as Summons bonus damage and Mechanical bonus damage) to one characteristic: Control and Damage gain of the CCMD (Controlled Creatures and Mechanical Devices)"